BexleyWildlife.org – or the associated Facebook page – now tops the list of suggested sites when ‘Bexley wildlife’ or ‘wildlife Bexley’ is put into the Google, Bing, Yahoo or AOL search engines, coming up ahead of the biodiversity pages on Bexley Council’s own website which used to head the rankings.
Ask (Jeeves) puts our facebook page fifth, behind some rather bizarre search results, with the Council pages not even making it onto page two of the selected sites.
Of course this is not an end in itself, but does help us deliver on our objective of being the ‘go to’ hub for information about wildlife, the environment and related activity and groups in the Borough.
The essential follow-on from that, of course, is that our primary aim in all of this is to get more people more interested and more involved in these matters, and to help sustain that engagement. By doing so we hope that a greater body of muscle, knowledge and opinion can be mobilised when needed, both to get practical tasks done and to argue more successfully for the right policies and against the wrong ones with various opinion-formers and decision-makers. There is more chance that people will fight to protect something they care about rather than something they are indifferent to.
By making things happen we can leverage in outside help, such as this JPMorgan work-party at Thames Road Wetland. Others may get involved with protecting and enhancing the environment in Bexley by joining an existing local group, by starting a new one, or through a London-level or national level organisation. By better co-ordinating and publicising our efforts, and making sure we welcome and keep communicating effectively with new recruits, we can increase our impact.
We are still in the foothills at the moment, and think that there is a great deal more potential out there. We would be grateful if readers could alert friends and relatives to the Bexley Wildlife platforms, and if those running groups could keep reminding their members about them. Hopefully if they see there is more going on across the Borough, and that we are delivering positive results, they will be more inclined to keep renewing their memberships – as well as getting actively involved if they aren’t already.
Topping the ‘pops’ on Google is a start, but it’s getting more people on the ground that will make the difference.
